CANTON, Ohio—The Mount Union baseball team remained undefeated in the young season after outlasting SUNY Brockport 26-17 in a high-scoring affair at Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium on Friday.
The Purple Raiders' offense exploded for 23 hits and 25 RBIs. Junior
Drew Denham led the way with a 5-for-6 performance that included five RBIs and four runs scored. Junior
Luke Ickes was equally dominant, matching Denham's five RBIs on a 4-for-7 day at the plate.
After Brockport (0-2) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the second inning, Mount Union (4-0) answered immediately to tie the game and took the lead in the third behind a double from sophomore
Derek Curry and a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch from freshman
Jake Jung.
The game turned into a back-and-forth battle in the sixth inning. The Golden Eagles went ahead 11-8 following a seven-run top half; however, the Raiders responded with 11 runs in the bottom half. Mount Union sent 15 batters to the plate in the frame, collecting nine hits—highlighted by a two-run double by senior
Chris Tsouras—to reclaim the lead 19-11.
Mount Union added insurance in the later frames, including a three-run home run by Ickes in the seventh and a four-run eighth featuring a two-run blast by Denham.
Junior
Ty Dennison improved to 2-0 on the mound, striking out seven over 5.0 innings of work while allowing just two earned runs. Junior
Drew Gernert, senior
Ryan Romito, and freshman
Logan Ellis appeared in relief to navigate the final four frames and held off a late rally by Brockport.
Mount Union recorded eight stolen bases, led by Fox with three. Seven different Raiders recorded multiple hits: Denham (5), Ickes (4), Curry (3), Tome (3), Tsouras (3), Fox (2), and Tucker (2). Tsouras and Fox each drove in four runs, following the five-RBI performances from Denham and Ickes.
Mount Union (4-0) returns to Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 21, for a rematch against SUNY Brockport at 11:00 AM, followed by a matchup against Adrian at 2 p.m.